All of the bullet core molds I have in my swaging kit are custom deals. Use some aluminum blocks in the appropriate size, index them so as they mate properly, and thread them for set screws for the handles.

The trick would, IMO, be to set them on the lathe and/or build a custom cutter. A custom cutter on a milling machine would be... troublesome. Best, IMO, to use a lathe with an appropriate mounting plate. Your cutting process would be in reality a boring operation, as you're going to bore out the holes. You'd be doing it with a custom boring bit vs. one of those indexable boring heads. It will be a bore! lol

as far as the sagia feeding shot gun shells the 410 has a bullet guide/shroud above the the barrel that is part of the barrel. you really cant do that with a AK bolt.

with the chamber you will need the free bore in front of the bullet to have the aproperite angle at it transitons into the rifleing this is important to avoid high pressure.

you will have to or should cut the throat as well as the neck of the chamber with a piloted reamer. these are not super expensive although I have not looked at .50 stuff. dont forget theat the 50 beowulf headspaces off of the rim so there needs to be a sharp non taperd rim for the case to seat against. then a slightly smaller area for free bore. I would call a few places for a reamer befroe trying to make one. the time and money not to mention the chance of wreaking a already short barrel is not worth it IMOO. I f you do make a reamer more power to you.

I went to the Lee page and ordered the Minie ball mould and the Beowulf die set. Took a while to find it because they spelled it wrong. Also picked up another tube of case lube, since my old one has dried out in the 20+ years since I last used it...

The first order of the day will be to cast a Minie ball and load it into a Beowulf case. Then I'll know whether the grease groove will be an issue.

Every time I think "Minie ball" and "AK" I think of that really bad book by Harry Turtledove...

>with the chamber you will need the free bore in front of the
>bullet to have the aproperite angle at it transitons into the
>rifleing this is important to avoid high pressure.

I've found some benchest commentary on this, but mostly of the "My Way Is The Only True Way And Anyone Who Questions It Will Be Struck By Bolts Of Lightning" type. The Minie is a fat, stubby bullet, so I think I should be looking more at what kind of angle is used by barrels chambered for similar bullets. That would be more like .45 ACP, I think. Now to find out what the angle would be for an ACP...

> you will have to or should cut the throat as well as the
> neck of the chamber with a piloted reamer. these are not
> super expensive although I have not looked at .50 stuff.

I was planning to do all of the cuts with the chambering reamer, if possible. That would guarantee everything was concentric. Would there be an advantage to doing it separately?

Modern thinking seems to be that the bullet should touch, or nearly touch, the rifling when the cartridge is chambered. The old guys liked lots of freebore.

> I would call a few places for a reamer befroe trying to
> make one.

I'd happily pay $150 for a properly made chambering reamer. I ass-umed no reputable company would grind one, given Alexander Arms' patent, trademark, and Black Mall Ninja Helicopters of Doom.

Other than the rim size, you could cut a Schuler case, run it through Beowulf dies, and make Beowulf brass, other than the rim, which is 8mm Mauser size, close enough to standard American "large base."

So you'd have to have a reamer made for a 12.7 x 54 Schuler Short, and you'd be ready to go...

magazine curvature

Magazine curvature: the 5.45 mag should curve more than a .223, and both should curve more than an ideal Beowulf mag. But I'm betting a 5.45 mag will work well enough. The mag, bullet mold, and brass are on the way, so I'll know for sure soon. Ssooonnnn...

If you cut your chamber with free bore for only one bullet type your kind of stuck if you want to try differant bullets.

free bore is used to allow varing types of ammo. some guns shoot very well with the bullet touching the lands some dont. some like .020 some like .005 it all depends. the bench rest crowd play with it a lot. personaly I would kive it enough that you can shoot factory ammo.

the advantage of using a seperate reamer is it will allow you to lengthen a chamber if you desire.

as far as gas blocks good luck finding a Saiga shot gun block. if you do find a source let me know. a 20 guage block would be perfect. the L1A1 block can be used but it takes a little work. Im going to use one on a heavy barrel 7.62x39 build. I do recomend a adjustable block on your build as shooting cast lead will require a lighter powder load than a jacked that can handel much more pressure. by having it adjustable you can go from plinker loads to hot.

I'd happily pay $150 for a properly made chambering reamer. I ass-umed no reputable company would grind one, given Alexander Arms' patent, trademark, and Black Mall Ninja Helicopters of Doom.

id make a few calls. you might be able to change a few specs slightly and call it some thing else. If the grendal has a sammi spec then it seems that most grinders will make one. It never hurts to ask. call pacific and ask them what can and cant be done.

The Yugo M76 has an adjustable gas block you could pattern yours after as well as a few others I know of that aren't mentioned.

the problem with most of them is getting them to fit around a .50 barrel.

if you have a mill there easy enough to make. also there is a ajustable on the market at copes but there pricy. they might have enough meat to bore out. I made my own for the varmit build and added a few things like a longer bore and it floats the tube but it can be a lot simpler.